Holding signs and marching in the rain, nearly 20 people gathered Wednesday afternoon in Albion to protest the detention and deportation of immigrants and farmworkers.
The event was organized by Rural & Migrant Ministry, a nonprofit that serves farmworkers and rural families in New York.
Wilmer Jiménez, the group’s chief program officer, said the march was organized after Analiah Figueroa — a member of their youth group in Albion — and her family encountered federal immigration agents about three weeks ago.
“People in the community don't even know that all of this is happening,” Jiménez said. “They don't know that ICE is taking people away, and it's an injustice, it’s not fair.”
Speaking to WXXI just after the march, Figueroa said she and her family were on their way into town to get a coffee when they passed by a field. She said she witnessed agents swarming the field and going after workers.
Figueroa said her family was then approached at a stop sign on the same road by an agent wearing a vest with Border Patrol lettering.
“They're like, ‘Put down the window,'” Figueroa said. “They go straight to my brother, who is more colored than us, and he's (the immigration agent) like, ‘Are you a U.S. citizen?’ My brother answers. We answer a couple of times, and he says, ‘Answer my question now or I’m going to pull you out of this car.’ So it was already getting really hostile.”
Figueroa said she, her mother, and her brother all told the agent they are U.S. citizens and were eventually allowed to leave. She claims that agents continued to drive past her family’s house in the days after the encounter, which she says made them feel intimidated.
In an email to WXXI, Mike Niezgoda, a public affairs officer for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, confirmed that an operation took place at Solar Farm on Riches Corners Road near East Lee Road in Albion with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's(ICE).
“On July 30, agents from U.S. Border Patrol and ICE conducted an immigration enforcement operation after receiving information through an ICE tipline regarding illegal aliens working in Albion, NY. Eight illegal aliens were arrested and processed for removal,” Niezgoda said.
Seven of those arrested were from Venezuela and one from Jamaica, all men. Niezgoda did not respond to questions regarding the statements from Figueroa and her family.
Similar raids have happened across western New York, including the arrest of six workers at the Sungrow tomato greenhouse and packing plant in Ontario, Wayne County, in early July.
Jiménez said that immigration enforcement activities could have an impact on local families in areas such as financial stability and mental health.
“When parents are the breadwinners, when one of them is taken away, there's a struggle financially,” Jiménez said. “There's also a struggle mentally and physically at the same time because it's a very traumatic event for not only for the kids but for the spouse who is left behind, and now unfortunately it starts to take a big impact in their education, their jobs, in their mental health.”
